Not in charge

Category: Editorials

Created on Thursday, 19 January 2012 00:24

Written by LAL

Living in Vermont means living with snow and sleet and ice on the roads. Beyond the need for extreme driving skills and Ninja-like driving reflexes, it requires a certain acceptance that sometimes you are not going to get to go where you’re going.

This winter has seen multiple incidents of ice, freezing rain on top of the regularly scheduled blizzards and snow events (plus the sub-zero events).  Each time a whole host of events are cancelled. School sports, government meetings, book clubs, public forums – they’re all subject to cancellation.

A spectacular snow to rain to ice event this week grounded a lot of folks on Tuesday night and resulted in the cancellation of many, many things. By Wednesday morning all vertical surfaces were too dangerous for walking and driving. All horizontal surfaces were suitable for ice skating.

People were late getting where they needed to go and the guys with sanders in the back of their trucks were the most popular people in The Valley. Waiting for the sand to arrive requires the kind of patience it takes to wait for the tow truck to arrive.

We are all so busy and so committed to getting to where we’re going and doing what we’re doing that it is hard to accept that sometimes you’re not going to get there.

It’s all important and needs to be done but sometimes it is not going to get done. We’re not in charge and can’t exert our will over Mother Nature. We certainly can’t exert our will over gravity or the glide of a 3,000-pound car across the ice.

Sometimes you’re going to stay right where you are until the weather event stops, you get plowed or sanded and the town roads get plowed. Sometimes what you’ve got scheduled is not so important that it can’t get cancelled.

Consider it a lesson from Vermont and Mother Nature that we can let go of the illusion that we’re in control of things all the time.

We’re not.